daf bit: Sukkah 3

[cellio]

We now move on to a new tractate, about the festival of Sukkot (Booths). The tractate begins with a discussion of the size requirements for a sukkah and then moves on to compare it to other dwellings.

The Master said: a sukkah is free from the obligations of placing a mezuzah at the entrance and of building a parapet around the roof, and it also can't become ritually impure (tzara'at). A sukkah is also not irredeemable among the houses of a walled city, nor does one return on its account from an army about to go to war. Why these particular exemptions? Because the term "house" is used in the torah passages that talk about these things (mezuzah, parapet, etc), and a sukkah is not a house. (3b)

I was taught a different reason for not placing a mezuzah on a sukkah: we don't place one on a temporary dwelling, where "temporary" means less than 30 days. That rule is why, at Pennsic (an annual SCA camping event), my little house has a mezuzah case (because my persona, who I'm supposed to "be" at Pennsic, lives there full-time), but the case is empty (because I live there for less than two weeks a year). I've been accused of being overly precise in this aspect of my re-enactment, in case you're wondering. :-)

Comments

[alaricmacconnal.livejournal.com]

A question: if you were sent on a business trip (or went on a really long vacation) that exceeded 30 days, would the place you were staying in be considered a "house", even though it is known that it will be temporary?